The walk back home was gloomy. The streets were darkened alongside the mood of both teenagers. Sora felt bad about the situation, that much was clear as Rui hear him talk. She couldn't say anything back to him. Not even when he commented on how they hadn't been close for years; the most she could muster was a soft [color=#ffbae8]"sorry"[/color] muttered between breaths. Actually getting home wasn't much better for the duo. Their parents began to yell at Sora. Rui cast her eyes to the floor.

[color=#ffbae8]'[i]Stop it,[/i]'[/color] she thought to herself, gritting her teeth.
[color=#ffbae8]'[i]It's not his fault. Why are you always blaming him?[/i]'[/color] those thoughts continued to rage, one after the other.
[color=#ffbae8]'[i]Get angry [b]me[/b]![/i]' 
'[i]I'm the one that caused trouble![/i]' 
'[i]Stop treating me like I'm special![/i]'[/color] Rui blamed herself in her head, over and over. But she couldn't muster any courage to talk back to her parents. She was part of the problem, just standing there and allowing them to heap the blame onto Sora.

[color=cornflowerblue]"I am going to my room, okaasan, otousan."[/color] her brother said. Rui turned and tried to call his name, but she was ignored, leaving her stranded there with their mother and father.

"Go back to your room and study, Rui. We'll make sure he doesn't disturb you again tonight," her father told her. All she could do was nod. She went back to her room, shut the door behind her and then leaned against it, similar to how she had done when she'd sent Sora out of her room.

[color=#FFF83B]"Nee-chan? Are you okay?"[/color] Lumia spoke up from Rui's pocket. The commander took her avatar out, said avatar able to see the tired expression on Rui's face.
[color=#ffbae8]"...People at my school play this game, too. Against a normal person, I shouldn't have to worry about losing coins, right?"[/color] she asked of her avatar. Lumia was taken aback.
[color=#FFF83B]"Eh? Well, no, you don't, but... does this mean you're going to battle?"[/color] Lumia asked her. Rui just nodded. Lumia gave her a serious look. [color=#FFF83B]"...And your wish?"[/color] she asked. Rui closed her eyes.
[color=#ffbae8]"My wish is..."[/color][hr][center][i]~The next day~[/i][/center]
Normally Rui spent her lunch breaks going over her notes as soon as she got done eating, but today was a little different. Her school wasn't old-fashioned enough to lack a cafeteria, so she'd managed to find a spot there to sit down. Rui had already finished her meal and was taking time to sort through something else she'd brought to school: her deck. Box half-opened on the table, Rui carefully went through her cards one-by-one to understand what they all did. Lumia had her own little corner on the table, eyes upturned at Rui's focused gaze, but she was uncharacteristically silent. There wasn't much point to talking to her commander; if nobody else could hear Lumia, Rui would look silly if she started talking to some cardboard. So she observed.

Turns out, though, that Lumia was far from the only person observing Rui. "Hey, you're Kadomori right?" she'd get asked from a girl who approached her. Like Rui, she'd recently bought a deck to play with, but had trouble asking around for anyone to play with her. The two practiced against each-other. The longer the game went on, the more people started to crowd around Rui's table, another pair even settling down next to her to start a game of their own.

[color=#ffbae8]'[i]...No commanders, huh?[/i]'[/color] Rui thought to herself. She got her bearings on the game, but she couldn't get what happened the day before out of her mind. It didn't affect her much; she won pretty handily against the other beginner. The game came so... [i]naturally[/i] to Rui. She had to stop more to explain the rules to her opponent than she had to actually think about her own moves.

"Hey, she might be a genius at this!"
"It"s just beginner's luck, dude..."
"I didn't know Kadomori was into Nexus. Never seen her do something besides study."

Chatter surrounded Rui. People started arguing who should play against who next. Some of them wanted to try their luck against Rui, others wanted to help the other girl out. Only Lumia's voice, however, made a chill run down Rui's spine.

[color=#FFF83B]"Nee-chan! I feel a commander!"[/color] Lumia warned her. Rui couldn't answer; it'd be too suspicious, but she raised her head and looked through her crowd. One person wormed their way through the rest. The sight of them made Rui's hairs stand on-end.

[color=khaki]"Rui! You play too?"[/color] Haruto asked her with a gentle smile, as if they'd never met yesterday. Even without Sacchi's snickering Rui had seen through the act well enough. [color=khaki]"Would you like a match with me? I'm sure I could teach you some things,"[/color] he politely offered. Haruto knew that with a crowd this size, Rui had a hard time making a scene.

[color=#ffbae8]"Haha... sorry, I think I'm done already, actually."[/color] was her answer. Polite, but firm. Rui stood up from her seat to collect her things. [color=#ffbae8]"Thank you for your company, everyone!"[/color] she said. some of the guys protested, insisting she stuck around, but Rui was equally insistent on leaving. On getting away from [i]him[/i]. She couldn't [i]believe[/i] he went to the same school as her. Haruto stuck around for a bit, chatting, giving some tips to the other newbie as she played against someone else, before leaving as well. The crowd- particularly the [i]boys[/i]- talked about it a bit longer.

"So cold!"
"Weird how she leaves just when when Takahashi gets here."
"Maybe I should ask Kadomori out after school..."
"You don't have a chance with that frost queen, dude."